


Full Circle

by Tex



Series: Two Men and a Baby [5]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Ancient Technology, Gen, Sequel, Series, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-23
Updated: 2013-06-23
Packaged: 2017-12-15 21:01:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/854002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tex/pseuds/Tex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duncan goes to college. But first, there's a little accident with Ancient technology.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Full Circle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lamardeuse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamardeuse/gifts).



TItle: Full Circle  
Author:  
Fandom: SGA  
Series: Two Men and a Baby by and  
Rating: G  
Synopsis: Duncan leaves for College  
Words: 3582

_For my dearest friend and partner in crime, Lamardeuse_

He’s with Mr. Woolsey in the reading library, enduring yet another hypnotically dull session of American Diplomacy and World Affairs when the call comes. Woolsey touches his comm, listens then looks grimly across the table at Duncan. It’s not the first time it’s happened over the last 16 years and Duncan knows immediately what it means.

They both take off toward the gateroom. Duncan gets there first but Woolsey is still pretty spry and he’s not far behind.

“What’s the situation?” Woolsey asks the gate tech, leaning on the ancient console and panting a little.

The tech’s name is Michelle, the former source of Duncan’s undying, 14 year old love and he still gets hot in the face whenever he’s in her presence.

“Dr. McKay and Colonel Sheppard encountered an alien device on M76-742,” Michelle tells them, grimacing when her big brown eyes meet Duncan’s gaze. “They aren’t injured, they’re fine but -- you’re expected in the infirmary.”

Duncan turns and heads for the stairs, his heart pounding. _If they’re not injured, why are they in the infirmary?_ He takes some of the stairs two at a time and he doesn’t even try to be cool about this. He’s pretty sure he’s supposed to be all aloof and shit, but Duncan’s never figured out how to be a regular teenager anyway. 

Maybe because he got conjured up by an Ancient priestess as a thank you gift. Maybe because his IQ is off the charts. In either case, Duncan is smart enough to know that he could have a worse pair of guys for parents and he wants them safe.

He bolts through the infirmary doors and Teyla and Ronon are there and just their presence makes him feel a little better. Drs. Zelenka and Beckett are there, too and as Duncan skids to a stop, the group turns toward him. His heart is in his throat and he can’t say anything at first. He doesn’t see his parents and he waits expectantly, waits for -- something.

He doesn’t have to wait for long.

“Duncan! Duncan!” He freezes in place as two small boys burst through the space between Ronon and Dr. Beckett and slam into him, wrapping their arms tight around his hips and squeezing him for all they’re worth. Duncan looks down at the two children trying to hug the stuffing out of him and it only takes half a second for all the dots to connect. Two little heads rest against his belly - one is blonde and the other is a shiny cap of black hair -- and Duncan deflates.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Duncan groans and he can tell from the grin on Ronon’s face that, in fact, no, they are not.

~*~*~*~*~

 

The medical examination reveals that they are perfectly fine, just -- young, approximately six to eight years old. And weirdest of all, their clothes got miniature-ized, too -- little BDUS and black tee shirts and boots. Duncan has to admit, if only to himself, that his parents are pretty adorable.

They all take the transport over to the lab so that Duncan and Dr. Zelenka can examine the device that caused the transformation more closely. And Duncan discovers two things very fast -- one, he doesn’t ever want kids; two, it’s impossible for anyone, even him, to concentrate with one parent bouncing a ball against the wall.

“The design is definitely Ancient,” Duncan says. “It’s familiar, isn’t it?” He clenches his teeth together as the ball hits the wall over and over again. “Pa? Knock it off, will you?”

“Gotta streak going here,” his Pa says absently, staring transfixed at the wall and the noise goes on. _thwap, thwap, thwap._

“Yes, it is,” Dr. Zelenka agrees. “I seem to recall -- I -- what is he doing over there?” he explodes in sudden panic and Duncan rushes over to his dad’s work station. “Dad, no, don’t touch the computers.” Duncan wraps both arms around him and pulls him backwards off the stool.   “No, but I can help,” his dad whines, sounding on the verge of tears.

 _thwap, thwap, thwap._

He starts to squirm within his hold and pleadingly, silently, Duncan looks at the two people he loves nearly as much as his parents. But their shoulders are shaking with laughter and he doesn’t feel so much of the love right at the moment. “Can you guys give me a hand here?”

Teyla, at least, makes an attempt to wipe her expression clean but Ronon doesn’t even try. “I am sorry, Duncan, but Torren and Zee are expecting me.” She gives his shoulder a squeeze as she passes. “I have every confidence in you.” By the time Duncan glances up again, Woolsey, Ronon and Dr. Beckett are mysteriously gone.

He’s always thought Dr. Zelenka the most patient man in two galaxies (after all, he’s worked with his dad for nearly 20 years) but even he looks frazzled now. “Duncan, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to take them out of here. I will do this myself.”

“But -- I can help.” Duncan’s whining a little, too and _thwap, thwap, thwap._

Duncan catches his dad’s hand and pulls him over to his Pa. He kicks the ball out of John’s reach and John starts to squawk. His dad joins him and there’s nothing to do but gather one under each arm and go home. 

Once there, it takes a while to get his parents settled down. They’re excited to be home, if all the running around and whooping is any indication, and it’s only when Duncan gets dinner on the table -- PB and J with sliced gilan fruit -- that the volume in the room goes down to a tolerable level.

His dad plows through his first sandwich and starts on a second and Pa spit-glues a spoon to his nose and repeatedly kicks the leg of the table until Duncan tries to distract him with conversation.

“So. You guys had a pretty busy day.”

Pa draws in a breath to answer but his dad beats him to the punch. “I’ll say we did. But you know. Shit happens.”

They’re both giggling before Duncan can get a reprimand out. “Hey. Watch your mouth there, buddy.”

His Pa thinks its hilarious. He can’t stop laughing, banging on the table with his hand. “Rodney said shit! Rodney said shit!”

His dad beams, clearly delighted at making Pa laugh and Duncan tries and fails to exhibit sternness. “Okay, okay, bring it down a notch.”

“Dunc, can we go to the target range after this?” his Pa asks through a mouthful of sandwich.

Duncan crosses his arms over his chest. “Not a chance. So listen. I got some news today. Want to hear it?”

Both of the boys look at him eagerly.

“I heard from Cal Tech _and_ Berkeley. They’ve both accepted me for early admission. How about that?” Duncan says with a cocky lift of his chin. 

Immediately, the good humor in the room drains like a depleted ZPM. His dad sits back in his chair, as if he’s trying to melt into it and Pa’s face falls. Neither of them meet Duncan’s eyes.

“What?” Duncan asks. Their memories are intact so the news shouldn’t be a surprise to them. “I haven’t made any decisions yet. MIT and Oxford are still in the running so --”

In fact, Duncan sent applications out to several colleges in January for admission to the fall semester. His parents made a few noises about waiting another year but Duncan feels like he’s ready. And there’s been a lot of what Duncan thought was good natured back and forth about his choice of a university. His father has been pushing hard for MIT but Pa has been waxing philosophic about Southern California and, though he hasn’t said so out loud, Duncan is leaning in that direction. 

But now, the mood has definitely changed, from three kids having a quick dinner to one of those tense family meetings that Duncan sees in the movies banked in the Atlantis database. 

“What?” Duncan repeats more strongly, when neither of them make a move toward explanation.

Pa’s face darkens and he crosses his arms over his chest and without warning, his dad’s little face crumples and his bottom lip starts to tremble.

“Dad? What’s wrong?”

“We don’t want you to go!” his dad declares tragically and his Pa defiantly knocks over his glass of water before he runs out of the room. His dad starts to cry, folded in on himself, looking so small and sad that Duncan unexpectedly feels his chest tighten up.

“Jeez, Dad, stop.” Duncan has never seen either of his parents cry (though they both got a little teary the first time Duncan wrote out the Euler equations without any help). So the fact that his dad is a seven year old takes a back seat to the bawling that seems as if it’s not going to stop.

He scoops his dad up. They walk into the living room and Duncan sits him on his lap and holds him. “Ok, ok, it’s going to be all right,” Duncan croons softly and suddenly, he’s hit with a sense memory, of this exact place and those same words, except Duncan’s the one being held and it’s his dad speaking the words.

 

__

> ”Why do they have to be so mean? I didn’t do anything to them,” Duncan cried and held onto his dad’s faded black tee shirt as tight as he knew how. He was so mad, he couldn’t remember ever being so mad but it hurt, too, like they’d hit him but they didn’t. It was almost worse.
> 
> “They don’t understand you,” his dad said, in a low, terrible voice Duncan had never heard before. “They don’t understand anything but they will. Believe me, they will.”  
>  His dad’s arms closed tighter around him. “Pa is taking care of this.”
> 
> Duncan lifted his head up. “Kal won’t be in trouble, will he? He tried to talk to them and get them to stop but Brady came close, like he was going to hit me and Kal just --” Duncan’s throat got tight again so he stopped talking. Kal Dex was his best friend and for as long as Duncan could remember, their fathers told them that they should watch out for each other. And they always did. Kal pushed Brady so hard that he almost fell and then, Dr. Simpson had walked in and -- Duncan sniffed because he didn’t want to cry again but he didn’t want Kal to get in trouble, either.
> 
> “No, Kal is not in trouble. Pa is going to talk to him and his dad but --” His dad hugged him closer and said something that sounded like, “I love that kid” but Duncan wasn’t sure.
> 
> “Listen. Duncan. You should understand that this probably won’t be the last time you get teased. In fact, I can almost guarantee --”
> 
> “I thought you said Pa would fix it.”
> 
> “And he is. He will. He’s the best fixer on Atlantis. Me and him. Well, we’re probably tied but what I’m trying to say is that you’re amazing, Dunc.” Dad grabbed Duncan’s hand and held it tight. “There’s nobody like you, and kids and even adults are going to notice that. And some of them are going to be jealous and mean and stupid, like those kids today. And when that happens, I want you to know that we’ll back you up. Every time.”
> 
> His dad smiled a little and kissed him on the head and Duncan relaxed back against him and felt better, just like that.  
> 

 

The memory makes Duncan warm from the inside out and it’s a moment before he realizes his dad has stopped sobbing and is hiccuping against his chest.

“So are you done now?” Duncan asks gently, rubbing one of his dad’s skinny little arms.

“Yes.” The answer is short and annoyed and sounds more like his dad, except the voice is way higher. 

“I’m going to be fine. You know that, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m ready. You and Pa and everyone on Atlantis prepared me.”

“I _know_ ”.

“So why --”

“I’ll still miss you!” His dad’s bottom lip starts to tremble and Duncan launches into another round of patting and hugging before he can descend into more crying.

“I’m going to miss you, too, Dad. But I’ll be back.”

His voice is small and trembly, like his dad’s voice never is. “Promise?”

Duncan smiles into his dad’s hair. “What? You think I’m going to go work for IBM? Atlantis is home. Of course I’ll be back.”

They sit like that for a while, then his dad wipes his face and climbs down off Duncan’s lap. “I should check on John. He’s too quiet. And that’s never good.”

Duncan starts to follow him but his dad puts up his hand. “Let me do it, ok?”

He watches his miniature parent walk down the hallway and Duncan’s eyes start to burn a little. There was never any question about how it would work -- he’d grow up, learning as much as he could with some of the best minds in two galaxies and then, when he was sixteen, like his father before him, Duncan would go off to college and see what they could teach him. 

And except for visits to Vancouver to see his Aunt Jeannie and to Virginia to hang with his Sheppard cousins, Duncan has spent all his life on Atlantis. Slowly, for the first time, he feels a pang of uncertainty. He lets his head rest back against the sofa cushions and gazes through the fine colored glass at the soft blue haze of the twilight outside. He couldn’t imagine never seeing that view again.

To distract himself from silly sentiment, Duncan decides to cleans up the kitchen. He leaves the bread and the peanut butter out because he knows his parents will be hungry once they calm down. It’s still too quiet when he’s done so Duncan walks down the hall and peeks into his parents’ bedroom.

They’re asleep -- his dad laying on his stomach and his Pa on his back with his head resting in the soft dip in the back of his dad’s knee. Duncan watches them for a little while, and then he toes out of his shoes and climbs up into the bed with them, gently rearranging them until their feet are all facing the same way and they’re all in a puppy pile in the middle of the bed. 

His parents wake him up after a couple of hours and they all go back into the kitchen and redo supper. Neither of them seem to want to talk about what happened but they push their chairs closer to Duncan and they eat quietly.

And the next morning, after Dr. Zelenka discovers how to throw the Ancient device into reverse and Duncan has his parents back, they still don’t want to talk about it. Instead, his Pa suggests they take the day off and go fishing on the mainland and they do, but only after his Dad makes sure they have a massive picnic lunch.

 

_Three months later..._

“Duncan,” Mr. Woolsey says to the small group assembled in front of the Gate, “you are the first of our children born in Pegasus to go out and make your way in the wilds of the Milky Way.”

There is a little snatch of laughter amongst them. Duncan glances over at his parents. His dad rolls his eyes so hard, he looks like he might have strained something and Duncan almost loses it. He’s trying to keep things dignified -- he knows how much Woolsey values ceremony -- but Duncan would have preferred just a quick wave and an “adios” before walking through the Gate. There had been a farewell party last night and Duncan is more than ready to just get there already.

“Our hearts, our thoughts and our best wishes go with you. We know you will do us proud.”

Duncan shakes Woolsey’s hand and he moves down the line to Dr. Zelenka. His eyes are very shiny and he hesitates only a second before he grabs Duncan in a hug.

“Sbohem můj přítel,” he says softly when he lets him go.

“Sbohem můj přítel,” Duncan repeats, his heart twisting a little. 

“Kick their asses,” Dr. Zelenka adds emphatically.

Duncan laughs and starts to say something along the lines of “hell, yeah” when Kal yanks him away.

“All right, enough of this. Just go already,” Kal says, putting him in a headlock that Duncan quickly breaks out of. They’ve been training together for years and they know each other’s tendencies.

“Save me a place,” Kal tells him with a grin and Duncan pulls Kal into a manly embrace. To everyone’s delight, Kal’s decided to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering and he’ll be Duncan’s roommate in another year. 

He lets go of Kal and faces Teyla and Ronon. Ronon picks him up and squeezes him tight and Teyla gives him an Athosian farewell, complete with Ancient words and a soft kiss. If ever he had a mother, it was Teyla and Duncan loves her dearly. And then everyone steps away to allow him a moment with his parents.

Duncan looks at them. He’s never considered himself sentimental; as a general rule, he prefers to look forward, not behind him. But as he studies his parents’ faces, Duncan feels his heart make an acrobatic flip. As ready as he’s been to take this long-awaited step, a moment passes during which he questions _everything_.

“Well.” He swallows to cover the temptation to say something really sappy. “Any messages for General Carter?”

His dad’s smile is wobbly. “Yeah. Tell her she’s wrong.”

“About what?”

His dad makes a noise that’s halfway between a laugh and a sob. Pa puts a hand on the back of his neck and pats him a little. “It’s just a thing that we do. She’ll understand.”

“Yeah. Sure, she will.” Pa gives his dad a final pat, then he faces Duncan. He’s the military commander for the moment, here, in public. But Duncan can see his Pa bleeding through the facade - in the knit of his brow and the dark worry in his eyes. “Shoot us an email when you get to your dorm. And if there are any emergencies, call your Uncle Dave or Aunt Jeannie. And if anything comes up that you’re unsure about or if some shit _really_ goes down, get in touch with the SGC --”

“I know, Pa. And since when have I ever been unsure of anything?” It’s meant to be a joke. Something, _anything_ to drive away the accelerating alarm in his face but all it accomplishes is to propel his Pa forward to pull Duncan into his arms. 

They stand together, holding on tight, as if its for the last time. He’s still a few inches shorter than his Pa; according to his Dad, he will experience a major growth spurt when he’s 18. So Duncan puts his head to his Pa’s chest and breathes in -- his Pa, Atlantis, both of them together and a wave of homesickness nearly knocks him over. Then, his Pa slaps him on the back and lets him go and his Dad moves in, almost tackling him.

“I’ve dreaded this day,” he says somewhere above Duncan’s shoulder, “as much as I’ve looked forward to it.”

“Umm. Yeah.” Duncan squeaks a little when his Dad squeezes him tight and he can hear Kal start to laugh. “Me, too. Dad,” Duncan wheezes, “I can’t breathe.”

“Oh, stop complaining,” his Dad says, releasing him and surreptitiously wiping at the corner of one eye. “You’ll be rid of me for at least four months. Let me have this moment.”

“Okay, Chuck.” His Pa’s voice calls out. “Dial the gate.”

“Yes, sir,” Chuck answers and the gate begins to light up.

Duncan picks up his duffle bag and takes a few steps so he is standing in front of the semicircle of his farewell committee. His family. All of them. Occasionally, his Dad told him how differently he and Aunt Jeannie were raised, that they had been ignored, treated like mere inconveniences. His Dad turned to academics to fill the emptiness inside him and he had been alone.

But Duncan had always had these people -- beside him, teaching him, taking care of him. He’s loved, Duncan realizes with a rush a warmth to his face. 

He grins at them as the event horizon swooshes into existence. “I’ll be back,” Duncan says in his best Schwarzenegger imitation.

“You better,” Ronon says. “Or we’ll come after you.”

His gaze lights on his parents one last time. They’re standing close, shoulder to shoulder, their smiles soft and proud. His heart is pounding when he turns and walks through the wormhole.

And on the other side, at the bottom of the ramp, General Carter is there. Her smile is just as gorgeous as he remembered.

“Hello, Duncan,” she says, offering her hand. “Welcome to Earth.”


End file.
